Backpack hunting blind
A backpackable, collapsible blind designed to be mounted against a tree for use by hunters and others. The blind has a backpack-capable frame with canopy support arms that are collapsible against the frame for use as a backpack, a removable canopy, and a seat on a lower part of the frame that can be used to support a backpack load. The support arms define a unique upper/lower support structure for the canopy relative to the seat, with the canopy having a generally triangular opening located above the seat and a lower end or hem that hangs below the seat and the lower end of the frame for a baseless, open-bottomed blind that is useful for nearly any hunting situation.
This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/458,913, filed Mar. 29, 2003 by the same inventor (Gresock).
FIELD OF THE INVENTIONThe present invention is in the field of collapsible, man-portable hunting blinds and treestands.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONPortable hunting blinds and treestands are generally known, including some that can be collapsed or folded and carried like backpacks. However, known blinds and treestands are usually designed for one specific hunting situation, and therefore lack flexibility and adaptability to the many different types of hunting available throughout the year. Ground hunting, elevated treestand hunting, and hunting in flooded timber are three common types of hunting where some sort of stand or blind is often used, and hunters often use several different types of blind or treestand to accommodate all of them.
The problem is complicated by the large quantity of gear a hunter typically carries into the woods, including things such as firearm and ammunition, bow and arrows, optical equipment, food, water, extra clothing, licenses, field dressing equipment, flashlight, and more. Some blinds and treestands are designed to be carried like backpacks, such as the canopy-enclosed blinds disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,990,536 to Wilburn and U.S. Pat. No. 6,021,794 to Guerra, whose frames double as backpacks for carrying the collapsed blinds. The resulting backpacks, however, seem designed primarily as self-carrying devices for the blind components, and do not appear able to carry much gear. U.S. Pat. No. 4,148,376 to Campbell, Jr., U.S. Pat. No. 4,582,165 to Latini, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,975,389 to Braun et al. disclose treestands whose frames function as backpack frames on the way in and out of the woods for carrying gear and game, but none provides an enclosed blind or shelter. U.S. Pat. No. 4,493,395 to Rittenhouse discloses a treestand with a canvas shelter, but it does not appear to be adapted for use as a backpack. None of the foregoing is believed to carry both itself and gear well, while additionally providing shelter and a truly all-around hunting blind.
Some prior blinds are designed to work in complementary fashion with treestands where, for example, it might be desirable to use a blind for its weather protection along with a treestand for its elevated hunting position. Examples are U.S. Pat. No. 6,431,192 to O'Hare and U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2002/0078988 to Valpredo. O'Hare discloses a blind with two arched, fabric-paneled sidewalls that can either be mounted to the ground with stakes, or retrofitted to an existing treestand with a relatively bulky, T-shaped, non-loadbearing support base by lashing it onto the treestand with cable ties. The fabric-paneled sidewalls are mounted on the base in a “V” shape; the spacing of the sidewalls can be adjusted by telescoping extension arms on the base of the T, and the angle of the sidewalls can be adjusted through pivoting sockets or elbows on the ends of the base. Valpredo discloses a portable hunting blind with a frame whose base can either be placed in freestanding fashion on the ground, or mounted on a large treestand platform with brackets and bolts.
The O'Hare and Valpredo blinds, however, are not believed to be as easily transported as the backpack type blinds, and either do not offer much weather protection (O'Hare) or do not appear to be useful with small, backpack-portable treestands (Valpredo).
Finally, none of the prior blinds or treestands is believed to be particularly well-suited for flooded timber hunting, where the hunter typically wants to be positioned near ground level but is hampered by as much as several feet of water.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONThe present invention is a lightweight, compact, backpack style hunting blind that comfortably carries itself plus gear; that provides excellent weather protection and concealment; and that is well-suited for ground hunting, elevated treestand hunting, and flooded timber hunting. It will be understood that although the term “blind” is used in keeping with the invention's most likely and preferred use as a hunting blind, people may find non-hunting uses where a backpack-portable, tree-mountable enclosure is desired, for example wildlife observation, or shielding spectators at outdoor events.
The blind includes a baseless frame that functions as backpack frame, tree mount, seat, and canopy support. The frame includes side uprights joined by upper and lower cross- or yoke-members, the yokes designed to fit against a tree, for example with shallow curved or V-shaped tree-engaging faces. A lower part of the frame includes a seat that extends away from the tree-engaging side of the frame, the seat forming a shelf for supporting gear when the frame is used as a backpack. The seat is preferably removably attached to the frame, or foldable against the frame, for certain hunting situations.
The frame also includes two pairs of collapsible canopy support arms: a wider, lower pair located above the lower yoke and seat for supporting the main body portion of a canopy, preferably at or above the level of the upper yoke; and, an upper, narrower pair of support arms above the lower pair for supporting a roof portion of the canopy. The arms extend away from the tree-engaging side of the frame when extended, preferably parallel to one another, although some degree of adjustment may be provided to help tension a canopy. The lower arms extend further from the tree than the upper arms when fully extended, such that the endpoints of the arms define a trapezoidal or triangular plane angled toward the tree when set up. The arms are preferably capable of being collapsed in substantially flat fashion against the frame, for example with a combination of telescoping and folding connections.
The frame is baseless in the sense that it has no self-supporting lateral base; the vertical frame is fastened to the side of a tree or similar object for support. The seat is the lowermost lateral projection from the frame, the lower end of the frame otherwise being open and unsupported, designed to be elevated off the ground when the frame is mounted to a tree, the seat extending out over open space at or above the level of the lower end of the frame such that a hunter's legs and feet will extend freely below the frame when seated. The support arms on the baseless frame support a canopy in free-hanging fashion, with a lower end or hem of the canopy hanging below the lower end of the frame when the frame is mounted to a tree, preferably a distance beyond the legs and feet of a seated hunter. In flooded timber the frame can be mounted to the side of a tree with the seat above water level while the lower edge of the canopy hangs down to or below water level.
The canopy in a further form has a recessed roof portion supported on the upper canopy support arms, an extended lower body portion supported on the lower canopy support arms, and a rearwardly and upwardly narrowing trapezoidal or triangular opening corresponding to the endpoints of the support arms. This provides an unmatched combination of weather protection, concealment, and field of view/fire.
The baseless design of the blind allows it to be used with a separate treestand platform of known type, where the blind is mounted to a tree above the treestand platform, such that the hunter may alternate between sitting on the blind seat and standing on the treestand platform, and may rest his feet on the platform while sitting. In a preferred form the seat and support arm members on the frame are sized and adjustable in a manner allowing them to be unfolded and extended while the hunter is standing on the treestand platform, without having to move his feet on the platform.
These and other features and advantages of the invention will become apparent upon further reading of the specification, in light of the accompanying drawings.
Referring first to
Blind frame 11 can be carried as a backpack with shoulder straps 36 (
Frame 11 includes a seat 24 mounted on a seat support 24a attached to lower yoke 18a, preferably in removable or foldable fashion, for example by means of a hitch-type connection or a pin and/or hinge structure, whereby seat support 24a (and the seat) can be removed or folded up flat against the frame. Seat 24 and support 24a can be separable assemblies, or can be integrated as a unit.
Frame 11 is shown in detail in
The above-described components of frame 11 are preferably made from light but strong metal, such as light-gauge steel or aluminum plate and tubing, although it will be recognized by those skilled in the art that other metals and materials could be used, for example plastics or fiber/resin composites, and that different materials could be used in combination for different parts of the frame. The tree-attachment and shoulder straps are made from typical materials such as nylon webbing of suitable strength and abrasion resistance.
Still referring to
Upper canopy or “roof” support arms 34 are telescopically mounted in the upper ends of vertical inner frame support tubes 22, in the illustrated embodiment being of a smaller diameter than support tubes 22. Support arms 34 are also preferably rotatably adjustable in supports 22. Various known telescopic and rotational locking mechanisms can be used to lock support arms 34 in their extended and rotated positions, for example spring detent buttons 35 or thumb screws operable to lock arms 34 at variable heights and in different rotational positions.
Opening frame 11 to use as a blind is simply done in reverse. The user carries the blind like a backpack until a suitable location is found. The tree-engaging faces of the upper and lower yokes 18 and 18a are held against a tree while the upper belt 16 is passed around the tree and fastened to the upper belt anchor, for example on the upper yoke 18. With the frame thus mounted against the tree, any lock members on the tees 26 are released, and the tees swung out approximately 180° and then locked in place, such that the tees are roughly in the same plane as the upper yoke 18. The rotating elbows 28 are next unlocked and rotated upwardly approximately 90° and then locked in place. The end arms 30 are then released, telescopically extended away from the tree the desired distance, and locked in place. The roof support arms 34 are then unlocked, raised to the desired height, rotated about 90° outwardly to point away from the tree generally parallel with arms 30, and then locked vertically and rotationally in position. Canopy 14 can then be draped over frame 11 and secured in place on the frame with snaps, ties, hook-and-loop or other known fasteners in the configuration shown in
Referring next to FIGS. 6 and 6A–6B, a second embodiment of a blind according to the invention has a modified frame 111, in which the number of vertical supports has been reduced to two for a lighter, simpler, more preferred construction. Inner vertical frame supports 22 have been eliminated and upper canopy support arms 34 are telescopically and rotationally mounted in the upper ends 26b of rotating tees 26. The diameter of at least the vertical lower ends of support arms 34 is less than the inner diameter of tees 26 and of outer frame support tubes 20, such that the vertical portions 34a of support arms 34 can be telescoped fully into tees 26 and tubes 20 when their vertical locking mechanisms at 27, for example spring detents similar to 29 described above, are released.
The upper or roof portion 17 of canopy 14 is shaped, cut and sewn to fit around and be supported by upper canopy support arms 34, and to be attached to lower canopy portion 15 along the top edges of the rear walls 15b, for example by sewing the lower edge 17b of rear panel 17 to the top edge 15c of rear wall 15b. Outer “wing” portions of upper canopy 17 have compound-angled rear edges 17c that are sewn or otherwise attached to the side edges of rear panel 17a; outer edges 17d and 17e designed to be sewn or otherwise attached to the upper edges of lower canopy sidewalls 15a and to wrap around the curve of lower canopy support arm elbows 28; and angled front opening edges 17f that define the front opening of the blind canopy. Pole pockets 17g receive the ends of canopy arms 34, as best shown in
The hunter's observation and shooting options can be further improved with windows such as 115 and 117 (
A benefit of the cruciform pattern packbag 114 is that the bottom/front panel 114e can be draped over seat 24 when the pack is opened up, and could include padding or a sleeve to hold extra clothing for the hunter's comfort and insulation.
Referring next to
As shown in solid lines, the frame 211 of
Another advantage of the frame design of
Referring next to
Climbing attachment 411 works in similar fashion, via an angled tree-gripping member 411d, but is bolted or otherwise secured at 411e to blind frame 211 such that frame 211 forms the connection between angled climbing frame members 411b and horizontal climbing frame members 411a, which are provided with an extended seat 411f, for example a strong mesh or fabric. Climbing seat 411f is adjustably spaced from blind seat 224 by sliding it on horizontal frame members 411a, so that the hunter can sit on seat 411f facing the tree, with his legs passing through the space between the seats and with his feet alternately standing on platform 311a and pulling on lift strap 311f. Blind frame 211 accordingly functions as a force-transferring part of climbing attachment 411. Attachment 411 can be left in place on the blind frame as shown while hunting, with the gripper 411d taking the place of tree-attachment cables, and the horizontal frame members 411a and climbing seat 411f can be sized to lie within the confines of the blind canopy. Climbing seat 411f even offers the advantage of a small table-like surface for the hunter in the blind, where lunch, binoculars, calls, etc. can be stored within easy reach.
It will be understood from the foregoing examples of one or more preferred embodiments of the invention that various changes can be made without departing from the scope of the invention as defined by the following claims.
Claims
1. A tree-mountable backpack blind for use by hunters and others, comprising:
- a generally planar vertical frame comprising a tree-facing side including tree-securing means for securing the vertical frame to a side of a tree or similar vertical structure, the vertical frame further comprising a baseless lower end adapted to be held above the ground when the vertical frame is secured to a side of a tree or similar vertical structure, the vertical frame further comprising cantilevered upper and lower canopy support arms having a storage position stowed essentially flat against the frame and an extended position extending horizontally from a tree-opposing side of the vertical frame;
- a seat mounted on a lower portion of the vertical frame below the lower canopy support arms to extend horizontally away from the tree-opposing side of the frame; and,
- a canopy adapted to be supported on the upper and lower canopy support arms when the upper and lower canopy support arms are in their extended position, the canopy having an open bottom with a lower edge spaced from and hanging freely below the seat.
2. The blind of claim 1, wherein the vertical frame comprises a spaced pair of upper canopy support arms and a spaced pair of lower canopy support arms, the lower canopy support arms having a greater lateral spacing at outer ends thereof in the extended position and the upper support arms having a lesser lateral spacing at outer ends thereof in the extended position.
3. The blind of claim 2, wherein the lower canopy support arms extend horizontally away from the tree-opposing side of the vertical frame a distance greater than the upper canopy support arms.
4. The blind of claim 3, wherein the canopy comprises a generally triangular planar front opening above the lower canopy support arms and defined in part by canopy sidewall portions above the lower canopy support arms, the front opening corresponding to the lesser lateral spacing of the upper support arms and the greater lateral spacing of the lower support arms in their extended positions, the generally triangular planar front opening being angled rearwardly and upwardly from the lower canopy support arms to the upper canopy support arms.
5. The blind of claim 4, wherein the canopy comprises an upper canopy portion above the lower canopy support arms and defining the generally triangular front opening, and a lower closable canopy portion extending horizontally beyond the upper canopy portion.
6. The blind of claim 3, wherein the lower canopy support arms extend horizontally away from the vertical frame a distance greater than the seat.
7. The blind of claim 1, wherein the upper and lower canopy support arms are capable of being telescoped and rotated without disassembly from their horizontally extended positions to storage positions generally flat against the frame.
8. The blind of claim 7, wherein the upper canopy support arms comprise vertically-extendable portions movable up and down relative to the vertical frame, and horizontal portions rotatable against and away from the vertical frame.
9. The blind of claim 1, wherein the vertical frame comprises backpack straps.
10. The blind of claim 9, wherein the vertical frame comprises a packbag.
11. The blind of claim 1, wherein the seat can be moved to a storage position against the vertical frame.
12. The blind of claim 1, wherein the lower end of the canopy hangs below the baseless lower end of the vertical frame when the vertical frame is secured to a side of a tree or similar vertical structure.
13. A tree-mountable backpack blind for use by hunters and others, comprising:
- a generally planar vertical frame capable of being secured to a side of a tree or similar vertical structure, the vertical frame comprising upper and lower canopy support arms extending horizontally from the vertical frame away from a tree or similar vertical structure and a seat extending horizontally from a lower portion of the frame away from a tree or similar vertical structure below the lower canopy support arms; and,
- a canopy supported on the upper and lower canopy support arms, the canopy comprising an open bottom with a lower edge hanging below the seat,
- wherein the upper and lower canopy support arms are capable of being telescoped and rotated without disassembly from their horizontally extended positions to storage positions generally flat against the frame and wherein the lower canopy support arms are rotatably mounted on the vertical frame for rotation about a horizontal axis on the vertical frame.
14. The blind of claim 13, wherein the lower canopy support arms comprise horizontally-extendable portions movable inwardly and outwardly along the horizontal axis relative to the vertical frame to adjust the width of their spacing.
15. The blind of claim 14, wherein the lower canopy support arms are rotatably mounted on vertically-rotatable bases mounted on the vertical frame, the vertically-rotatable bases being rotatable about a vertical axis in the plane of the vertical frame.
16. The blind of claim 13, wherein the lower canopy support arms comprise laterally extendable end extensions.
17. A tree-mountable backpack blind for use by hunters and others, comprising:
- a generally planar vertical frame comprising a tree-facing side including tree-securing means for securing the vertical frame to a side of a tree or similar vertical structure, the vertical frame further comprising a baseless lower end adapted to be held above the ground when the vertical frame is secured to a side of a tree or similar vertical structure, the vertical frame further comprising canopy support arms extending horizontally from a tree-opposing side of the vertical frame;
- a seat mounted on a lower portion of the vertical frame below the canopy support arms to extend horizontally away from the tree-opposing side of the frame; and,
- a canopy adapted to be supported on the canopy support arms, the canopy having an open bottom with a lower edge spaced from and hanging freely below the seat and a roof portion positioned above the seat.
3052251 | September 1962 | De Jean, Jr. |
3116808 | January 1964 | Riley |
3358789 | December 1967 | Laun |
3545461 | December 1970 | Carlson |
3609905 | October 1971 | Fuhrman et al. |
3902264 | September 1975 | Radig |
3990536 | November 9, 1976 | Wilburn |
4120379 | October 17, 1978 | Carter |
4134474 | January 16, 1979 | Stavenau et al. |
4148376 | April 10, 1979 | Campbell, Jr. |
4493395 | January 15, 1985 | Rittenhouse |
4582165 | April 15, 1986 | Latini |
4951696 | August 28, 1990 | Jones, Sr. |
5613512 | March 25, 1997 | Bean |
5975389 | November 2, 1999 | Braun et al. |
6021794 | February 8, 2000 | Guerra |
6431192 | August 13, 2002 | OHare |
6510922 | January 28, 2003 | Hodnett |
20020078988 | June 27, 2002 | Valpredo |
Type: Grant
Filed: Mar 25, 2004
Date of Patent: May 22, 2007
Inventor: Alex S. Gresock (Interlochen, MI)
Primary Examiner: Tamara L. Graysay
Attorney: Northern Michigan Patent Law, PLC
Application Number: 10/809,722
International Classification: E04H 15/02 (20060101); E04H 15/04 (20060101); E04H 15/30 (20060101); E04H 15/46 (20060101);